Theocracy - Mysticism and Contemporaneity

Abstract

Religion occupied a pivotal place in the life of our ancestors, even being a proof, at that time, of raising the degree of civilization of mankind. We say a pivotal place and not just an important one, since a large part of social life revolved around religion and its symbols. Often there was no boundary between politics and religion and what was Caesar's was not Caesar's. In those bygone times, political power was legitimized through a divine, cosmic, supernatural bond. No doubt that connection between politics and the supernatural was shrouded in mysticism. Today, when the importance of religion is in decline, humanity is more concerned with science, evidenced by sometimes exacerbated empiricism. It is as if there is no more room for the spiritual, for religion, the latter falling into a form of obsolescence. But is it so? Has religion really lost its ancestral role, is it headed for extinction? Contrary to a non-religious view we will notice that even in the present time there are societies in which religion and politics are intertwined, in which the source of state sovereignty is divinity and thus, we still have present theocratic political regimes. The divide between religious and non-religious views of society exists but understanding how theocratic regimes exist can lessen this divide.